The present invention relates to a locking device that locks a power feeding plug to a power feeding connector.
People have become environmentally conscious in recent years. As a result, vehicles with reduced carbon dioxide emissions, such as hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles, have become popular. Such a vehicle uses a battery to power a motor, which produces rotation, and runs mainly using the drive force of the motor. When the vehicle travels over a long distance, the battery's state of charge becomes low. Whenever the state of charge becomes low, the battery must be charged.
The battery may be charged, for example, at a local charging station. The battery may also be charged using a household charging cable connected to a household outlet. In any case, a power feeding plug, which is connected to a distal end of a charging cable, is used for charging. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 9-161898 describes the structure of such a power feeding plug. When the power feeding plug is connected to an inlet of a vehicle, power flows through a cable to the vehicle and charges the battery. The power feeding plug, which also serves as the part of the cable that is grasped, is inserted into the inlet like when refueling a gasoline engine vehicle.
An electrolytic reaction of compounds and ions in battery cells, which form the battery, charges the battery. Thus, the charging time is relatively long. Although fast charging technology is being developed, the time required to charge the battery of an electric vehicle is still relatively long. As a result, until charging is completed, the vehicle may be left unattended over a long period of time with the power feeding plug connected to the inlet of the vehicle. In such a case, someone may wrongfully remove the power feeding plug and connect it to another vehicle to steal electricity.
To solve this problem, a locking device is used to lock the power feeding plug to the inlet of the vehicle. This prevents unauthorized removal of the power feeding plug from the power receiving connector. The locking device requires the user's authorization to remove the power feeding plug from the inlet. This prevents the power feeding plug from being used to steal electricity.
In such a locking device, a restriction member, such as a movable lock bar, may be used to lock and prohibit removal of the power feeding plug. However, when using such a lock bar, the locking device requires a space to allow for movement of the lock bar. This enlarges the locking device.